Lamarr Houston injury opens door for Leonard Floyd

It was always the Bears’ intention to bring along rookie Leonard Floyd slowly, rotating him into the lineup with Pernell McPhee, Lamarr Houston, and Willie Young, tiring out opposing offenses with constant waves of pressure.

But with McPhee on the PUP list and Houston suffering what seems like a significant injury in Monday night’s 29-14 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, Floyd’s timeline to shine suddenly just sped up.

Floyd is going to take his lumps this season just as all rookies do. And maybe it’s for the best that the Bears don’t seem to be contenders this year, so Floyd has the opportunity to experience the ups and downs of an NFL season before it counts for good.

But although we’ve seen Floyd use his speed to get into the backfield and be within arm distance of the quarterback, he hasn’t been doing it consistently enough nor has he managed to finish the job very often.

Hopefully the on-the-job training will help.

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